His sense of surprise had been taken for long, and he knew it, he knew it better than anyone. But if anything, the natural beauty that was an ocean sparkling brightly by the edge of a forest and leading into a beach was only a reminder of that. It was a painful reminder that he was no longer able to appreciate the fleeting thoughts of beauty that had once gone through his head.

He held his Great sword tightly while reminding himself of those happy times in which he was chased by girls across the kingdom, many if not most of them for his fortune, even though at the time a prince would not care. His fighting claws were ready as ever in case another hostile decided to approach him. He would not be as trusting outside of a town, his short experience in the new world through which he walked having taught him that people standing in this place would not take any consideration towards anyone but themselves. Yet even then, the former prince had to keep his sanity as intact as possible, even if that meant becoming the good Samaritan for the pure and the corrupt. Sebastian was no longer a paragon of justice; he was a demon joker that could not predict himself, much less anyone else.

The sand sliding beneath his feet proved slowed him slightly, no doubt aided by the weight of the sword at his back. He looked at it, he sat down on t, and he grabbed it with his hand, the sand slid off his hand while a bitter smile crept onto his face. But not all of it left, a portion of the sand remained, completely intact, in the center of his palm. He clenched it and laughed to himself, even inanimate objects feared him less than the spirits surrounding him.

He knew that he was never alone, and that he would never be. But in the end company can only exist when both sides agree to it, what he had was something akin to a group of marionettes. Yes, that was it, he was surrounded by lifeless beings that begged for his attention while keeping him at arms length, and yet his guilt was the only thing motivating him to continue, the thought that he could send them to a better place being more than enough to keep him walking. At that moment a touch of happiness crossed his mind, he reminded himself that if he could give all the souls a rest, his future would be restored.

Xander found himself almost perpetually between towns, never lingering for as long as he wanted to. He liked settlements and preferred to stay nestled in civilization, or whatever those who dwelled in permanent structures could be called, and would happily keep to such areas for the rest of the days. Access to masses of people was definitely their largest asset - company and people to anger improved any day to the point of enjoyability. Yet the samurai found himself walking along a beach, far from his fellow man, admiring the ocean instead of admiring taken ladies to upset their other halves.

He had been given a piece of wisdom, one that he now followed religiously. "Move around a lot. That way, even if you ruffle some feathers, you can be gone before someone gets upset enough to take action against you." It seemed pretty reasonable. Action being taken against him was usually one of his goals, but only on a small scale; organised, numerous attackers didn't seem like it'd be a lot of fun to tackle alone. Or rather, the realistic chance of not getting away afterwards didn't seem like a lot of fun.

Moving forever onward and travelling the places between towns had another advantage, though. Other travellers! The roads were much less picky about who starts fights and when, and aren't very known for trying to end a scrap before it gets fun. Lo-and-behold, there was another man just ahead, finally coming into view when he stopped to sit on the beach.

Xander caught up to him, excitement in his eye when he saw a blade that dwarfed even his own hefty longsword. The weak couldn't use weapons that large without being incredibly sloppy with their defenses, or being just as crudely predictable with their attacks, so they generally avoided them. Either the man was a fool, or he was interesting, but either way he seemed like a good enough find to pick a fight with.

The samurai approached from behind while procuring a fresh apple from a small travel bag which he then discarded. The man seemed quite in his own world for one reason or another, but exploding fruit was always a nice, if sudden, break from any sort of self-involved mindset. It was quite handy that the guy held his sword on his back; Xander could easily shatter this tasty food on the guy without actually hitting him. He wound up and launched the red orb at the guy's greatsword. It was the perfect introduction, no doubt about it. If 'suddenly, exploding fruit' didn't get his attention, then nothing would. It was even cooler, since the apple sort-of-kind-of matched the carmine of the samurai's overcoat. He could be remembered every time the beach-walker saw an apple!

Before he had the chance to delve into thinking that he was just like the kind of people that were infected with the disease of multiple faces as the kingdom’s healers liked to call them, he was greeted, or rather called, by a man. Sebastian kept his fists in a position where he could raise them at any given moment before turning around. As he looked at the man, his smile remained brilliant as ever, and just as fake too; but either way it was enough to convince most people that he was at the very least slightly trustworthy.

His gaze absorbed the man’s image perfectly, making sure that not a single detail was left out. As a warrior, he usually did that because of force of habit, especially considering his disadvantage in reach. The situation was that Sebastian considered himself as a gentleman, generally acting as such; nevertheless, he also had a mission that he would fulfill even if the gods themselves attempted to stop him. Because of that mission, the former prince could often forget any form of knightly combat, he could stop thinking about honor, and strike at his opponent’s weakness with full force in case he himself was losing.

Even as he thought of strategies, the man did not forget his façade, after all, he had just been preparing himself in case his opponent wanted to fight, he would not fight against an opponent that was unwilling, or worse, injured. The sun stood up, the day bright as ever cheering for them to speak without visual obstruction; unlike the physical battlefield, the slowing properties of the sand could be determining if anything happened.

His foots moved sluggishly through the sand. The prince’s movements were pre-meditated even then, as he attempted to downplay his actual battle capabilities. Despite his size, he was thin. his muscles would only be visible to someone that was highly experienced in combat, such a person would also be able to notice that even with the weight of his Greatsword, someone of his complexion should not push out sand with his steps only because of weight, not as much as Sebastian did. Yet it was hard to imagine that someone would get such strength naturally, he hadn’t at the very least.

“Hello, fellow traveller, do you require assistance in any form?” After reaching the man, He spoke while closing his eyes briefly, attempting to seem as trusting as possible despite having the rest of his senses standing on full alert. A wave slid at their feet, the wave itself was a rarity at that time of the day, the beach would usually stay calm until night approached. What was not a rarity, was the breeze, which flew naturally towards different portions of the place, occasionally even hitting the duo for a second.He sincerely hoped that he would not have to battle, yet he knew that it was most likely wistful thinking.